U.S. Midwest farmers awaiting the start of harvest can expect cool conditions ahead. But no frost is seen in the near future, according to Freese-Notis Weather Inc.On Wednesday, a few scattered showers…

With the Midwestern farmers getting set to start the 2014 corn and soybean harvest season any day now, this week's weather is expected to trend warmer and drier in the Midwest.
The coolest morning for…

Most of the Midwest is quiet this morning as a slow moving disturbance remains nearly stationary across the Central Plains. This disturbance will slowly travel east-southeastward through the day with most of…

Over the weekend, rainfall was most widespread across the southern Plains where central Texas saw widespread 1- to 3-inch rainfall totals. Beneficial rainfall also fell farther north and west into the Texas…

Looking at the market this morning, it seems that corn and soybeans are staying above support levels with little visible impact from weather-related factors. Over the next several days, these weather-market…

Portions of the Midwest are off to another wet and soggy start this morning as a wave of low pressure develops along the the downstream portion of a large upper-level trough of low pressure. This wave of low…

As we begin your Monday morning, the western Midwest is off to a wet and soggy start. Over the last 24 hours, rainfall totals have reached 1 to 2 inches across east/central Nebraska eastward into much of…

Most of the Midwestern U.S. is dry this morning, with the exception of a line of showers and storms across the far northern Corn Belt. These showers and storms are forming along a zone of warm advection aloft…

Looking at the market this morning, corn, wheat and beans are all slightly down as we start the 8th day of April. Although the full crop progress report has been delayed by 24 hours, some data has been…

Starting out with the current state of our El Niño-Southern Oscillation this morning, it appears Niño 3.4 sea surface temperature anomalies have reached the 0.5C threshold for the first time in several…

Starting out this morning, it seems grains are beginning to lose any momentum they may have had last week.First of all, despite the situation in Ukraine and Russia, export demand remained strong in the Black…

Today, much cooler weather is pushing south across the northern and central Corn Belt states. This cooler weather will slow the warming soils. Across much of northern Iowa, temperatures will generally…

With yet another cold pattern in place, the March Natural Gas contract remains buoyant, with a morning price over $6.30/MMBtu. Looking at NatGas storage, inventory declines through the 14th of the month…

Temperatures across the Midwest this morning range from the 20s and 30s across northern areas with some lower 40s across southern regions. Most of us will be greeted by abundant sunshine this morning, with sun…

Today, we await a much anticipated WASDE report. Ahead of this release, the markets this morning show wheat on the decline, flirting with 574 while March soybeans remain buoyant in the 1330's. Corn is…

Winter storm warnings and advisories across northern Illinois continue in effect until noon today. Snowfall is slowly diminishing here as the center of low pressure has already tracked up the Ohio River valley…

In line with the trend this winter, we are off to another cold start this morning across the western three-fourths of the nation. Across the Midwest, temperatures range from the teens and 20s across a good…

As we wrap up the first month of 2014, much of the Midwest is facing yet another cold and snowy stretch of weather, a theme that has plagued the Midwest since the start of December. Currently, a band of snow…

The latest Arctic blast has culminated in rare winter snows across portions of the Southeast and Gulf Coast. National snow cover is now up to 42.1% (vs. 31.2% last month), with some areas as far south as…

This morning represents yet another frigid day in the Arctic saga of the winter of 2014. Yesterday, an intense Arctic cold front plunged south from Canada, dropping temperatures as much as 40 degrees F. across…

A quick look at medium and long-range models seems to indicate a continuation of a cooler and wetter pattern for northern Argentina. Upon news of better weather and timely rainfall across Argentina yesterday…

Temperatures across the northern tier of the country are bitterly cold once again as another Arctic front has plunged south from Canada. This front is currently progressing south and east through the southern…

Temperatures across the country this morning are in the teens and 20s from Nebraska northward, with 30s, 40s, and even a few 50 degree readings across the Midwest. A weak cold front is currently crossing the…

Much of the country is under the grip of the one of the coldest air masses in nearly 20 years. Temperatures have dropped to freezing as far south as the central and northern Gulf Coast with areas as far south…

One of the coldest mornings of this winter is currently upon us. Many areas across central and northern Minnesota are -15 to -30F with a few locations, including International Falls, dropping below -40F! With…

A large area of high pressure is currently establishing itself over the Plains and Midwest. Temperatures this morning are coldest over the northern and central Plains where a weak surface pressure gradient has…

The new Crop Progress Report indicates much of the soybean harvest is nearing completion. Nationally, 91% of soybeans are harvested, with the Midwest averaging around 95%. On a national scale, we are 1% behind…

Alas, the Crop Progress Report is out! Examining the corn progress, US-wide corn maturity is up to 94%, with Iowa's crop 94% mature, Illinois 97%, and Minnesota 95%. These are only a few percentage points…

The next few days will generally be quiet
with seasonably cool weather. Some showers are possible across Illinois Thursday. However, most of this will be light. The exception is northeast Illinois where 0.1…

A touch of frost may have occurred in central Nebraska this morning as temperatures dipped down to 32 F. in low-lying areas. The northwestern Corn Belt is looking for warmer and drier weather this week…

Yesterday was unexpectedly cloudy across Iowa thanks to a broad northeast fetch that brought in moisture off of Lake Michigan. Highs were generally in the 60s to near 70 degrees. The northern half of Illinois…

Last Friday, Des Moines, Iowa, reached 104 F., setting a record-high temperature for the day and also the hottest temperature for so late in the season. According to the record books, temperatures in Iowa have…

Yesterday, the temperature reached 99 degrees F. in Des Moines, Iowa, the hottest temperature so far this year for this city. Temperatures were reported in the 90s across much of the western Corn Belt…

A spotty rain activity pattern in southwest Iowa, particularly around the Omaha, Nebraska, area on Sunday, is expected to occur in northeast Iowa today. Moisture relief is needed in all parts of the state of…

As we already knew, crop progress is behind the five-year averages because of the delayed planting due to the wet spring in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin report that…

Through yesterday, the month of July is off to a cool start with most of the Corn Belt anywhere from 3 to 8 degrees below average for the first four days of July.St. Louis, Missouri, is 8 degrees below average…

The northern Corn Belt continued to receive some isolated heavy rains yesterday and overnight. These storms continued to fire along the rim of hot dry air to the west and moist air to the east. Early on…

It's the first day of summer! The summer solstice begins with warm and humid conditions and chances for thunderstorms. Early morning temperatures were in the mid- to upper-70s across eastern Nebraska into…

Here is an eyewitness report of storms that moved across southern Minnesota and eastern Iowa last evening: "The biggest storm in a while rolled through here about 5:00 pm. Straight-line winds estimated at 85…

Moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop and spread across the western Corn Belt today and continue tonight. Some lingering light showers are possible Wednesday morning. A weak cold…

Over the weekend, there were sprinkles and light showers across northwestern Iowa and southern Minnesota. Most reports were a trace to a few hundredths, but Fort Dodge, Iowa, reported .40 inch of rain from…

As forecast, very heavy rains and flooding occurred across Iowa and north-central Illinois over the weekend, but even more rain fell than forecast in this report on Friday. There was a widespread swath of 3 to…

Good rains of 0.25- to 1.0-inch-plus were widespread across Missouri and Illinois into western Indiana overnight. Rains were scattered over Iowa. There were numerous areas with heavier rainfall amounts during…

Eyewitness reports indicate some field activity began in central Iowa yesterday afternoon as the topsoils continue to slowly dry in the central and eastern sections of Iowa as well as western and central…

Over the weekend, record-cold temperatures were experienced in the western Corn Belt where Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, and Sioux City and Mason City, Iowa, set record-low temperatures in the low 20s and 30s…

Temperatures were 15 to 25 degrees colder than normal over the northern Plains delaying fieldwork and planting, while it was normal to 20 degrees warmer than normal across the dry southwestern Plains. A…

Precipitation so far this March has varied widely in many of the major crop regions of the U.S. In the Plains wettest areas for March include sections of central and northern North Dakota, northeastern and…

Winter is hanging on across the midwest. Daily highs have remained in the 20s and 30s and the lower 40s during the month of March so far. It is possible that northeast Ia will experience the colder March since…

Yesterday's max temperatures departures from normal reflected how unseasonably cold it is for so late in the season with temperature departures -20 to -25 degrees below normal across the northern plains…

Heavy weekend rains over IA, MO and IL have created lakes and ponds in many fields. Between Moline and Chicago it looks like a lake stretches across the valley on either side of Interstate 88 at times. Chicago…

A year ago on this date, March 6, 2012, temperatures were soaring across the Midwest with highs in the 60s and 70s across Iowa. Last March 2012 eventually went into the record books as one of the warmest…

Colder temperatures are forecast today and Saturday across the midwest with some temperature moderation to begin on Sunday and Monday. Rain is forecast to develop from Mo eastward across Il, In, Oh and…

A potential monster of a winter storm is moving out of the Rockies and will begin to intensify over the Kansas plains today moving across Missouri tonight and toward west-central Illinois early tomorrow…

An area of light snow is moving eastward over southern Minnesota and northern Iowa this morning. This area should slowly move eastward today across extreme northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin this P.M…

Light rain is pushing eastward across north central Il this morning. Most rainfall amounts were less than 0.05" over northern Mo. Burlington, Ia reported .14" and Galesburg, Il reported .15" of rain. Meanwhile…

The Army Corps of Engineers is reportedly beginning to reduce the flow of the Missouri River reservoir, a move expected to worsen the low water conditions on the Mississippi River. This low water condition…

Very significant rains occurred over the weekend from south to north along the southern and central Mississippi River Valley and today over the Ohio River Valley. Along the central Mississippi River Valley…

Yesterday was the eighth day in a row in which a very big part of the main Argentine corn and soybean area had dry weather. Such conditions were badly needed coming off of a September-October time frame that…

The condition of the Nation's winter wheat crop dropped another percentage point in the good/excellent category this past week, and is now down to just 39 percent good/excellent. Reports indicate that is…

Too much rain has been a big problem so far during this planting season in South America for much of Argentina and far southern Brazil, but we have started to improve that situation in recent days and more…

Post tropical storm Sandy is moving westward across southern PA, 90 miles west of Philadelphia early this Tues AM. High wind warnings are still in effect for coastal waters of the mid-Atlantic states, New York…

Hurricane Sandy was 285 miles west of Cape Hatteras earlier this a.m. The intensifying hurricane is forecast to begin to turn northwest today and west-northwest before hitting land late tonight somewhere on…

Corn harvest as of this past Sunday remained record-fast for the nation at 87 percent done; the previous record for October 21 was an 81 percent completion mark set in 1991. Corn harvest is virtually complete…

The national corn harvest as of October 14 was still easily the fastest ever seen for the nation, but the soybean harvest pace of this year has now been surpassed by a couple other recent years. For corn, the…

It will not be a "drought buster" or even a "drought denter" for that matter, but at least it is going to rain late this week in the western Corn Belt...something that has not been seen in significant…

The first notable snows of the season in the Nation's midsection have been found over North Dakota and into northwestern Minnesota from late yesterday and overnight. It is tough to get a lot of actual…

The fall harvest of three years ago is remembered for its slow pace (and its big crop size), while this year's harvest is clearly going to remembered for its quickness (and small crop size). 54 percent of…

With the calendar turning to October today, and with the U.S. corn and soybean harvests progressing so rapidly (completely dry weather last week in the Corn Belt along and to the north of Interstate 80 should…

As expected we did see the growing season come to an end over the weekend across the northern Plains and in a significant part of the Midwest. Cold dominated the northern Plains for both Saturday and Sunday…

The growing season is going to come to an end over the course of the next three days for much of the northern Plains and for a significant part of the Midwest. Freeze watches and warnings have already been…

The national corn and soybean harvests continuned to roll forward at a rapid or even record-setting pace last week. 26 percent of the Nation's corn crop had been cut as of this past Sunday, easily the…

Cold weather is really going to start dominating the middle of the country over the next 24 hours and really does not look to relinquish its grip for the rest of the month. Temperatures for the 1-5 and 6-10…

Coming up still looks to be a weather pattern for the Nation that has not been seen for a very long period of time. We have seen nothing but abnormal (often times record-setting) warmth for a huge part of the…

Rains still look to favor the western Corn Belt and southern Plains for the near-term, with rain amounts and coverage much more limited for the rest of this week and into the weekend for areas east of the…

I expected that the rainfall event of the past four days would be one of the best of the entire summer for a big part of the hard-red winter wheat belt and the Corn Belt, and indeed it was...and then some!…

The Drought of 2012 continues to keep a firm grasp on the Corn Belt and shows no sign of letting up. Significant/substantial amounts of deterioration in crop condition numbers will again be seen in this…

As I see the forecast right now, the corn and soybean markets will continue to have to deal with still lower and lower national corn and soybean yield forecasts as we head into the second half of this month…

Extreme, record-setting heat and a lack of rain last week meant that it was no surprise that we saw yet another steep drop in national corn and soybean crop rating numbers for the week ending July 9. At 40…

Warmer temperatures spread eastward and northeastward from the Plains into the western and central Midwest yesterday with highs reaching the 90's to around 105. Some of the warmest readings reported on…

Yesterday's national crop condition report showed that the national percent of good to excellent condition for corn was the worse since 1989, when national crop condition reports began. National soybean…

A slow-moving storm system continued to bring beneficial rainfall to sections of the Midwest the past 24 hours. For the 24 hours ending at 7:00 AM CDT on Thur. most significant rain amounts, in the 0.40 to…

Cool wet weather is forecast for the midwest in the shortterm. It will begin to feel like someone left the refrigerator door open for Thursday and Friday. Daily highs today will range in the 60s and 70s…

High pressure dominates the midwest weather this AM. A High pressure center is slowly drifting eastward from northwest MO and will be expanding across the mid Mississippi Valley the next few days. Southerly…

Weather extremes continue across the midwest. Yesterday, record high temperatures were set from northern MO to northwest IA. St. Joseph, MO set a record high yesterday at 96 F, Des Moines, IA warmed to 90 F…

The national corn planting progress was estimated at 28% done as of this past weekend. Looking at the individual states, IL reported 59% of the corn planted and IN reported 46%, while in contrast only 9% of…

Rainfall in the Midwest late last week into the weekend greatly increased topsoil moisture in sections of the western and central Midwest where spring precipitation amounts had been quite light prior to the…

The system in the Plains that brought some beneficial rainfall to the western hard-red winter wheat areas this week is now bringing rain to the western Midwest.
In the western wheat areas some locations…

Several areas of the country are expecting a combination of strong winds and low relative humidity that increase the danger of fires today. Along the East coast from Boston ,MA southward thru extreme eastern…

The last day that midwesterners experienced below freezing temperatures this year was on the morning of the 9th of March across IA and on the 10th and 11th of March across IL, IN, and OH. Since those dates…

It was a very warm day across the plains on the 30th of January. Many record temperatures were set across the central plains. Norfolk, NE warmed to 67 degrees, Lincoln, NE reached to 70 degrees, and Omaha, Ne…

It was dry in the main Argentine growing areas the past 24 hours, and dry weather returned to most of the growing areas of eastern Paraguay and also the far southern bean areas of Brazil. The most significant…

It was dry over the New Year Weekend in the main growing areas of Argentina, with only few isolated showers in the growing areas of eastern Paraguay. December precipitation was well below normal in many of…

December will go into the record books as coniderably drier than normal month in much of the main Argentine growing area. December will be less than half of normal at most reporting stations in Cordoba, Santa…

There are not really any changes to make regarding the forecast for a storm system this weekend and into early next week for a big part of the Nation's midsection. It still looks like the northern Plains…

We will spend today's report looking at some world weather features that may be getting some attention in the grain markets right now. South America continues to gain more and more attention as we get…

A narrow area from southwestern through northeastern Oklahoma, and then from southwestern Missouri northeastward into central Illinois, saw significant rainfall overnight (some places in that area had easily…

One has to still be quite optimistic about the chances of another round of significant precipitation for early next week in the hard-red winter wheat belt of the southern Plains, which will again serve to…

One of the better precipitation events in quite some time was found in the western Corn Belt over the past 24 hours. Precipitation of over a half inch through 7 AM (Central Time) was common for southeastern…

Additional precipitation of 0.10 to 0.50" over the past 24 hours in the southern Plains capped off what turned out to be a nice little event for a big part of the Texas panhandle as well as central/southern…

Rains in the western Corn Belt were heavier than I expected over the past 24 hours, particularly for the eastern half of Iowa. It was not difficult to find places there that had over an inch of rain since…

Historic drought in the southern Plains has meant that a place like Amarillo has had just 3.61 inches of rain all year long...simply an incredible statistic for a place that normally gets over seventeen inches…

Historic drought in the southern Plains has meant that a place like Amarillo has had just 3.61 inches of rain all year long...simply an incredible statistic for a place that normally gets over seventeen inches…

Harvest progress this past week (19 percent done nationally) was more than I expected, particularly in the far northwestern Corn Belt and the northern Plains where we saw a big amount of soybeans get cut in…

Harvest progress this past week (19 percent done nationally) was more than I expected, particularly in the far northwestern Corn Belt and the northern Plains where we saw a big amount of soybeans get cut in…

The big story in the weather forecast today is much better rainfall chances for the hard-red winter wheat belt of the southern Plains. Even with last Friday's forecast, that area was going to see rain but…

This really has been a wet stretch of weather for eastern parts of the Corn Belt as of late. For a state like Ohio, one has to go back to September 18 (i.e. a week ago this past Sunday) to find the last time…

The soybean harvest in the United States is off to a slow start this year. Probably unknown to most is the fact that our five percent completion pace as of this past Sunday was the fourth slowest since 1987…

The national corn harvest progress figure this week at 15 percent done matched my own expectation but fell short of what the market was looking for.
The figure was close to the five-year average of 16…

Rainfall from our pesky upper level low pressure system in the eastern Corn Belt stayed pretty scattered and mostly light through Saturday, but really was on the increase yesterday and in the end we saw some…

Last week's sub-freezing temperatures were more widespread and got no market attention, but I think it is still worth noting some additional cold temperatures this morning in northwestern parts of the…

Whenever I see closed upper level low pressure systems on the weather maps (which we have right now) I always "cringe" just a bit. These are often very important weather makers (mostly because they are such…

Some scattered rains shown on the radar this morning in parts of Kansas illustrate the next rainfall threat for the hard-red winter wheat belt, one that will last through tomorrow (with the best chances coming…

The corn and soybean markets showed no reaction whatsoever to the freezing temperatures that were recorded last week, but crop progress and crop condition data this week suggests that indeed that was a…

Rainfall was pretty widespread across the center third of the Nation over the weekend, and no more was that the case than in eastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and…

Temperatures were a little warmer than expected overnight in North Dakota, but I do not think that means that the Midwest is under less of a freeze threat for tomorrow morning. It was cloud cover that kept…

Lower prices overnight for the grain markets means that traders are focused on other factors (most like the September USDA crop report from yesterday) besides the weather, but don't think that means that…

Some areas of the Midwest did fairly well on rainfall over the holiday weekend and other areas did quite poorly...which is how I envisioned the weekend rainfall pattern shaping up when I wrote this report back…

You can't grow corn and soybeans without rain, and we are certainly proving that this summer as crop ratings have continued their steady fall ever since we started to see parts of the Corn Belt dry out…

A summer of 2011 that has featured more than its fair share of hot days across a lot of the Nation is going to have one more hot spell this week...and then hopefully the last of the heat until the summer of…

The best rains in the Midwest over the past 24 hours were where they were forecast to be, which is in western and southwestern parts of the region. Southeastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, southwestern…

The middle third of the Corn Belt, in an area running from the northwest to the southeast, is an area that remains badly in need of rainfall given that most of that region has seen very little rain so far this…

For the second day in a row it is parts of Kansas that has done the best with rainfall across the Nation's midsection. Only extreme northeastern and extreme southeastern Kansas had not seen rain for the…

Hot temperatures continued to put a lot of stress on corn and soybean crops in the Midwest yesterday. That was especially the case in Kansas, Missouri, southwestern Illinois, and far southern Iowa where highs…

The USDA claims unchanged national corn ratings this past week, though you can make a case that there is not a lot of logic in that. After all, we saw significant deterioration in ratings given to major…

The biggest rains in the Corn Belt over the past 24 hours were in an area that certainly did not need it. Much of Michigan had two to five inches of rain through yesterday morning, but a lot of that same area…

Big heat last week in the
Midwest created a sharp downturn in national corn and soybean crop ratings for
the week ending July 24. National corn ratings were down four percentage points
in the good/excellent…

The big winners with regards
to weekend rainfall in the Midwest was eastern Iowa, the northern third of
Illinois, far southern Wisconsin, and a good part of Ohio where rainfall totals
of over an inch were…

It was Nebraska, Iowa far northern/far northwestern Illinois, and southwestern Wisconsin that had the rains over the past 24 hours, and by no coincidence it was that same area that saw significant relief from…

Temperatures in general fell a bit short of my expectations yesterday in the Midwest, but make no mistake that it was a hot one with highs most everywhere reaching 95 or higher a few spots making 100 degrees…

A notable decline in national corn and soybean crop ratings for the week ending July 17 shows the impact of the dryness that has been seen over the past several weeks in parts of the Midwest and the heat that…

Heat became a big story in Midwest weather over the weekend, and if anything it will become an even bigger story for this work-week period. On every day through Friday I think that the bulk of the Midwest is…

At a time when the corn and soybean markets are worried about conditions drying out in the Midwest (with good reason, I might add), it is ironic that there is a small but key part of the growing region that is…

An extended period of hot and humid weather is fast approaching. A hugh ridge of high pressure in the upper atmosphere will intensify over the middle of the nation beginning late this week and weekend and…

Residents of the Midwest should be sure to enjoy the mild temperatures of the next two days as it is going to be quite a while before we see temperatures this cool again. Big heat for next week remains a very…

Weekend rainfall in the Midwest was largely as expected, being confined to just far northwestern areas through early Sunday before expanding to cover a bigger part of the region late yesterday and especially…

The corn trade may note that we "only" saw a one percent improvement this past week in national corn and soybean ratings for the good/excellent category, but let's look a little more closely. All of the…

It was just a week ago that we were noting concerns that corn and soybean crops were deteriorating in some parts of the Corn Belt due to overly wet conditions, and yet now one can sense that the corn and…

The old adage "rain makes grain" works most of the time, but clearly it was rain that caused a deterioration in national corn and soybean ratings last week. National corn ratings were down two percentage…

Rainfall in the Midwest this month has been especially big (over double the normal level) for southeastern Iowa, northeastern Missouri and western/southwestern Illinois, and I increasingly fear that same areas…

Rainfall in the Midwest this month has been especially big (over double the normal level) for southeastern Iowa, northeastern Missouri and western/southwestern Illinois, and I increasingly fear that same areas…

A lot has been made this week about the potential for warmer-than-normal temps in the Midwest to end this month and start the month of July, but equally impressive (at least to me) is the type of cold that…

A modest improvement in corn and soybean crop condition ratings this week means that, despite way too much rain in some areas, we are now into the time of year when the majority of the crop does indeed improve…

A large contrast in weather conditions continued in the U.S. this weekend. Hot temps and mainly dry weather were the rule from the Southern Plains through all of TX into the central and Southern Delta. Highs…

Heaviest Midwest rainfall since Fri. occurred through the early weekend from parts of eastern MO into the southern halves of IL, IN, and OH, where some amounts of over an inch occurred. Farther north in the…

Heat since last Friday has been remarkable in the Midwest (the 103 degree reading seen at Minneapolis probably topped the list; only a handful of times has that location ever been that hot, and weather records…

While heavier-than-expected rains over the weekend in the eastern Corn Belt were notable, heat across much of the Nation's midsection was the bigger story. On Friday I thought that the most notable heat…

It has been a week since the last rain fell in southern parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, with the rest of Indiana and Ohio seeing their last rain last Saturday. Thus, we are certainly drying out the…

I would look for the national corn planting progress figure this afternoon (for the week ending May 29) to be at 86 percent. If correct, that means that for the first time since 1996 we will be planting more…

While most of the focus with regards to planting delay problems this spring has been on the eastern Corn Belt (rightly so, given that we will probably plant a lot of the corn crop in that area in June this…

It is rather difficult this morning to find places in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and southern Michigan that did not see at least an inch of rain since yesterday morning, and localized rains exceeded three…

We have seen a remarkable improvement in topsoil moisture conditions across much of the central Plains over this past week. A nice rain last Thursday and nice rains again the past 48 hours means that large…

The national corn planting progress figure of 79 percent done as of May 22 matched my own expectation and means that we have a significant amount of corn left to plant at a very late date on the calendar…

This is going to be a very wet work-week period for the Midwest and nearby areas, certainly the last thing that a lot of that area wanted to see given that there is still a fair amount of corn to be planted…

Some of the best rains in months have fallen in parts of the hard-red winter wheat belt over the past 24 hours. All of Nebraska, the central third of Kansas, western Oklahoma (excluding the panhandle) and…

While a nearly stationary upper level low was still producing areas of rain in the eastern Corn Belt early on this Thursday (Michigan in particular), the next big storm system of note was already producing…

For a lot of the Midwest it was simply a miserable weekend, with rainfall and cold temperatures dominating the weather. Weekend rainfall totals of more than a half inch were common for eastern Iowa, eastern…

The rainfall totals and the rainfall forecast is probably going to draw most of the market attention (as it almost always does), but to me the most impressive feature about the weather coming up for the center…

The latest round of active weather to impact the Nation's midsection got underway over the past 24 hours with a lot of the Plains and the northwestern two-thirds of the Corn Belt seeing the bulk of the…

Surprise thunderstorms overnight in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles are coming far too late to help out the wheat crop in that area, but are certainly going to help conditions in regards to summer row-crop…

It was a different world last week between the western Corn Belt and the eastern Corn Belt with regards to planting conditions. For a state like Iowa, it was one of their best weeks ever as farmers there put…

For this afternoon's crop progress report, I would look for a national corn planting figure of 38% complete (39% or less would make this the third slowest pace since 1985). Rains over the weekend in the…

This has been a huge week for getting fieldwork done in Nebraska, and more is going to get done there today. Versus the other major corn producing states in the Nation, I think that Nebraska is going to see…

The current weak weather system in the Midwest has not done much to curtail fieldwork operations in much of central and western Iowa through a lot of Nebraska, so farmers in those areas will again be really…

My forecast for the national corn planting progress figure this afternoon is 15 percent, which will likely put me at the low end of trade guesses but we are basically assured that the number will be the third…

The driest part of the Corn Belt over the past seven days has been the western third of Iowa, the western third of Minnesota, extreme northwestern Missouri, and points eastward and that is an area where some…

The national corn planting pace at 9 percent done as of April 24 was a tick slower than my own expectation but was four to five percentage points slower than most of the trade expected. The low number this…

The entire Midwest saw rain at one time or another over the weekend, though clearly it was the Ohio Valley getting the worst of it as heavy amounts of rain fell there. Radar is estimating four-day rainfall…

The grain markets are closed for trading tomorrow in observance of Good Friday, but when traders return to their trading desks on Monday morning (or, for some, Sunday night), they will be getting reports of…

April is a month when you can really see some weather extremes, but what we saw yesterday was simply incredible. We set record low maximum temperatures yesterday in southeastern Iowa as places there did not…

Being seven percent done as of April 17 with corn planting doesn't seem like much, especially when you consider that we had more than double that done by that same date last year, but take note that we…

When it comes to the weather for the second half of April, what we have in store this year for the Nation's midsection is about as bad as one could imagine for fieldwork. Extended periods of dry weather…

This still looks to be incredibly active/stormy weather pattern coming up for the next two weeks (at least) for much of the Nation's midsection, and when you combine that with temperatures that are going…

It was yet another very tough weekend for the winter wheat crop in the southern Plains.
Heat returned with a vengeance on Saturday, as highs that day reached 90 or higher for southern Kansas southward…

Most of the attention in the wheat market right now is focused on the southern Plains (and I am not hopeful for improvement there, despite overnight output from the European weather model that suggested…

While the southern Plains is forecast to stay dry, a big storm will still be impacting the northern Plains, eastern Corn Belt and Delta for late this weekend and early next week. Winter storm watches are…

High temperatures yesterday across a lot of the Midwest were anywhere from 10 to as much as 20 degrees below normal, and we are going to see a lot more of that as temperatures will be just as cold right…

The seven-day period from today through next Tuesday is looking to be exceptionally warm across most of the Nation's midsection. Temperatures will be averaging at least five to ten degrees above normal in…

Significant rain fell overnight (over an inch for a lot of locations in central and southern Missouri) and will continue to fall into tomorrow for the Ohio Valley through parts of the Delta (additional…

With regards to U.S. weather, the wheat market has its focus on two areas right now: the dryness in western Kansas and points southward, and the potential for a late start to spring wheat planting in the…

Weekend rainfall that was on the order of 0.50-1.50" for the central Corn Belt and 1.00-3.00+" for the eastern Corn Belt, Delta, and Southeast (with several places in northeastern Alabama, far northern…

The old saying goes that if March "comes in like a lamb" it will "go out like a lion." If that is the case, then we had better expect a big storm around March 31 as yesterday was a tranquil and warm day for…

The improvement that we have seen in growing conditions in Argentina over the past two to three weeks really is remarkable. This is an area that endured a lot of drier-than-normal weather for late last year…

I am really not seeing anything on the snowfall reports this morning that is any thing real surprising...which means that we have indeed seen a lot of 1-2 foot snowfall accumulations be reported from the…

Weekend weather in Argentina was as expected...which meant that it was dry and increasingly warm.
For Cordoba, highs were largely around the 95 to 96 degree mark for both Saturday and Sunday. It is the…

We saw some sub-zero lows over the weekend in the Plains (Garden City got down to -5 on Saturday morning, while North Platte made -9 on Sunday morning), though most of the areas that had that cold had a couple…

Considerable rain overnight in the Ozark Mountain region heralds the start of wet weather for the rest of this week for a lot of the Nation's midsection. Rain will spread into south-central parts of the…

What an incredibly snowy winter it has been for much of southern Minnesota...and today marks the beginning of the official winter! Another six inches of snow at Rochester yesterday gave that location nearly 38…

The next five to six days are going to feature no precipitation at all for the vast majority of the Plains, Corn Belt, and Delta, but there is still ample evidence that things will be turning wetter after that…

Wheat traders will remain keenly interested in U.S. weather here in November (except for the central and southern Delta, it looks quite dry across all of the Nation's midsection for the next ten days)…

The past 24 hours has produced a history-making storm system in the Midwest, and its effects are not over with for the region just yet. Both Wisconsin and Minnesota set new all-time records for lowest…

Rains was starting to work into portions of the Texas panhandle early on this Thursday, and that rain marks the start of what should be a nice rainfall event for a lot of the hard-red winter wheat area. The…

I would look for the national soybean harvest progress number this afternoon to come in at 84 percent, which would make this by far the fastest harvest season ever recorded (previous fast was only 78 percent…

I feel pretty confident in my prediction that the USDA will show record-fast soybean harvest progress in their numbers this afternoon. A 63 percent completion mark would match the record-fast, October 10 pace…

It is a federal holiday today (observance of Columbus Day) so we will not get weekly crop progress numbers until tomorrow afternoon. With last week's warm and dry weather, those numbers should show big…

Make no mistake that this is an awesome weather pattern coming up for getting row crops harvested throughout the Nation's midsection. Whether you are harvesting corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets, or any…

Weather Market CommentaryFriday, September 24, 2010It is a real mess in southern Minnesota right now, with heavy rains through yesterday morning (just over nine inches at Amboy was the highest "official" total…

DES MOINES, Iowa--The weekend brought a lot of weather extremes to the Nation's midsection, both in regards to temperatures and precipitation.The southern third of Missouri has picked up no rain since…

Weather Market CommentaryThursday, September 9, 2010The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine continued to be a player in the weather over parts of the Nation's midsection early on this Thursday, producing…

Highlighting weekend weather in the Midwest was some very welcome, very beneficial, and very needed rains in a good part of Illinois. Coming into the weekend that was a state that had seen limited rain as…

Weather Market CommentaryFriday, July 30, 2010Expected thunderstorms have fired this morning in northwestern parts of the Corn Belt, and when one combines those rains with rains that fell during the day…

Thunderstorms fired late yesterday in the northwestern Corn Belt along a cool front moving into that area.This activity moved eastward overnight to bring decent rains (though certainly nothing heavy like was…

Wet weather early in the weekend
capped off what was an incredibly wet week of weather for a lot of the Midwest.
Not much rain has fallen in the Corn Belt over the past 24 hours, but the 48
hour period…